During The New Criterion's 30th-anniversary, black-tie, gala dinner in New York in April, the magazine inaugurated its Edmund Burke Award for Service to Culture and Society. The award gives homage to the inspiration provided by the 18th-century political philosopher.

The honoree for the first Burke Award was Henry Kissinger, masterly historian and one of America's most-important Secretaries of State. Kissinger delivered remarks on "The Limits of Universalism: Conservatism and Neo-conservatism in American Foreign Policy."

"Henry Kissinger is an intellectual giant, a genuine statesmen and scholar in an era sadly lacking in both," said New Criterion editor and publisher Roger Kimball, who is also president and publisher of Encounter Books. "His service to his adopted country has distinguished him in the annals of American politics and his work as a diplomatic historian has earned him the well-deserved plaudits of knowledgeable observers across the globe.

"Like Edmund Burke before him," Kimball continued, "Dr. Kissinger understands the fragile nature of civilization, so difficult of achievement, so easily lost, and, once lost, nearly impossible to retrieve. It is a great honor as well as a great pleasure for all of us at The New Criterion to bestow upon him our first Edmund Burke Award for Service to Culture and Society."

"The New Criterion has done more than any other magazine to preserve what Matthew Arnold called 'the best which has been thought and said,'" Kissinger said. "It is my great pleasure to receive its first Edmund Burke Award, named for the great 18th-century Irish statesman and philosopher, who has been a notable model for my own work as a diplomat and historian."

The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation in Milwaukee substantially supports The New Criterion. Encounter Books is an activity of Encounter for Culture and Education, a nonprofit organization that is also substantially supported by Bradley.